The weekend is over

And a hectic one it was too.
Friday night we had our "last" fund raising parents get together. it was held at the local sports club. Every one was to bring their own meat / eats, and drinks could be bought at the bar. The Princess and I decided we didn't feel like burning meat, so we just got pizza's from the local take away around the corner.
LuckyL had gone to Sun City for the weekend with a friend, leaving earlier in the day, and GMan was doing the sound at his schools drama evening.
Saturday saw me up at 5.30 am again! as GMan had to be at school by 6am to get the bus to the school sports day at another school in JHB. Back home I waited for 7.30, picked up Witness and got him going in the garden. The rest of the day was spent doing odds and sods. I did some work on the bar counter (yup, this project is still on the go), and some clearing in the garage.
Saturday late afternoon the Princess and I went to dinner at some friends. Was a good evening, and enjoyed the company. GMan went to a party, and was staying over at a friends place for the night.
Sunday, although I would have liked to sleep late, it wasn't to be. So, I went out to get the paper, and the bread rolls for the day, and by 9.30 am was at Cedar Lodge, where we were hosting a Poker tournament. Registration was slow, but we eventually got 28/29 people registered. At 12 midday the game started. Buy in's were the name of the game, and much money was spent by all in attendance! At 3pm, the last buy in was allowed, along with a "top up". Then everyone broke for lunch. The freeze out would begin at 3.30, and the game would continue to the last man standing.
I watched with interest the various power plays taking place. How stupidly people play when they have some alcohol in them, how really stupidly some react to losing, albeit to a good hand. One guy came so close to getting bitch slapped by me, and I wasn't even playing.
Slowly the players fell out, and the usual suspects were moved onto firstly 3, then 2, then one table. 10 players left - it was 6.15pm.
By now, a definite stack leader was evident. Consensus was he could only lose if he really tried to! These 10 were playing for a pr agreed 4 prizes. 1st R25000, 2nd R13000, 3rd R7000, and 4th R5000.
As I watched, the "Stack leader" (we shall cal him MC)seemed to have a lapse in concentration. An unknown outsider, (we'll call him DDB), who had made the final table was set to challenge him. For some unknown reason MC raised preflop, with A7 suited. DDB raised him, and MC looked. On the flop, which gave MC nothing, he again raised. These guys were raising big stakes, and this would prove to be the biggest, second only to the final pot, of the day. The next card wasn't much better, but it seems that MC though he was onto a possible straight (I don't recall the cards) but I would have folded out long before. He wasn't about to bow to the pressure from DDB, and when challenged with a raise, he countered with a bigger one.
The river (final) card fell, and he had nothing. The two players looked at each other, and agreed that was enough. They flipped their cards, and MC had A high, DDb had a pair (queens was it?)
MC was not in last place, with 56 players still at the table. At this point I went and stood next to him, and strated to advise / guide him. Each time a shooter was delivered to him, I took it and drank it! Yup, there seemed to be a concerted effort to make him drunk (drunker) and I know how this affects his game, so I told him his current brandy and coke would have to last at least another hour, and no more shooters.
I'm not sure why, but he seemed to appreciate where I was coming from, and played the game. I stood where I could see his cards when he looked, and based on the other guys betting style, would advise him to fold or play. Quietly, and always leaving him open to choose. Sometimes he listened, some not, but either way, we managed to start to rebuild his stack. When there were 5 left, he was only slightly bigger stack than one other player, so I told him to wait for one more to fall, and he'd be in the money.
He played it well, and made the final 4. Then he outplayed another player, took his stack. 3rd! A big bet from the big stacker (at this stage the only remaining lady) caught him by surprise. He assessed the situation, decided it was all or nothing, and went all in. No problem, he at least had 3rd place if he fell out. And she looked!
He pulled the winning K on the river, and won with the straight! it was close, but a win is a win! 2 hands later she was out and joined her husband (whom she had knocked out in 5th place earlier!) in the spectator ranks.
Now it was MC and DDB - head on. Probably the hardest players in the house on the day, and a good match - MC was stacked though, and could play it any way he wanted and still be safe. He probably had 4 or 5 times the stack that DDB held. One or two hands were played, no movement, both players looking for a winning hand.
Then both drew what they believed to be winners. MC called all in - DBB, realising he had a chance to get closer to a bigger slice of the pie, weighed his odds, and called him.
MC held an A/Q, DBB held K/J. Formidable hands, and both riding for a win, except that DBB had the edge with the A.
The flop gave him a Q, the turn nothing, at this point we were literally calling for his cards to hold up. The river came - and MC won it. Man, it was great. I had "nursed" him back from a precarious position to a win - R25000!
It was a great evening! Will definitely be there again, and maybe next time I'll play!
Sunday night, 9.30 pm I got back home. Tired but elated. LuckyL was home, exhausted, and GMan who had spent the day with me more the wiser now as he firmly believed he could one day make a living playing poker - but was now much more wiser having seen the real thing at play. In fact, a lesson well learned, on I tried to tell him for some time is that pocket Aces does not constitute a win! In fact, we together saw one guy lose twice - big pots, with pocket aces!

Salagatle!